Veterinarian Song

Our perfect little guinea pig, Snickers, in brighter times

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this is the most unconventional song I've ever posted:

It’s a veterinarian’s song

About animal diseases

Wherever you go

You see that animals are love

We do everything we can

To keep them alive

But I have a good reason. We lost our beloved guinea pig, Snickers, last night, and literally the only thing that made the whole situation bearable was the vet that we saw when we went to the hospital. She was so awesome. She patiently explained all of our options, wrote them down on a whiteboard with prices attached, and let us consider our options.

Which, by the time we brought her in, were to do a bunch of expensive tests and try to figure out what was wrong with her or put her to sleep. (She was too skinny and sick to just bring her back home.)

Many tears were shed, many of them mine, and we decided that at the age of 4, Snickers might have a few more good years in her (average life expectancy is 5-8 years), so we elected to let her stay overnight and have the tests.

When I awoke, bright and early this morning, there was a message from the vet saying that poor little Snickers had passed away sometime between 10 pm and midnight. The message was SO sweet. She called Snickers a perfect little guinea pig, and said she was so so sorry they couldn't save her.

I just adored this woman. So good, so earnest, so lovely. Kinda like the vet dude who wrote this sweetly hilarious song:

Animals should be loved

I’m a fan
My profession is my life

I have a dog
three cats and an understanding wife
The good relationship
between animal and vet
is a good reason to be glad

Veterinarian
Animals should be loved
Veterinarian
Please help again

He may be a bit of an odd duck, but he is right on with these lyrics:

May she rest in peace (in our backyard)

Different people
With their pets
Some leave happy
Some leave sad
Animals with a long life
Are good for our soul
and our lives

Animals should be loved

The children grow up
And we get older too
The neverending friendship
Between pets and ourselves is priceless
The oldest don't want to lose their best friend
They don't want to accept that it could be the end

It's true. We didn't want to accept it. But we didn't really have a choice. It was just her time. We never even figured out what was wrong with her -- what made her get sick and lose all that weight in the first place.

My kids were sad that she died in the hospital, and they didn't get to say goodbye, but I felt like we did. We wrapped her little body up, covered her with the beautiful red maple leaves that are just starting to turn in our backyard, and took turns talking about what a wonderful addition to our family this little lady was for all of us.

After the funeral, I was giving my son a ride to his Dad's house, and he was lamenting the fact that he'd now lost both of the pets he was closest to -- Snickers at my house and his cat Gracie at his Dad's -- who died last summer. I felt for him.

Then he mentioned that he was sad that he was starting to forget what Gracie looked like, outside of pictures, and what she felt like.

"I know exactly what you mean, honey, " I said, tears rolling down my face for what felt like the 40th time that day, "I feel the same way about the New Englander (except I used his name), except he's not dead, just gone from my life."

I guess that's just something you go through when you love and lose someone, we decided. And it hurts like crazy, but there's no way around it...

Believe It or Not

Drowning my sick guinea pig sorrows in Gilmore Girls tonight, I perked right up when one of the characters requested this old fave as his official campaign song:

Look at what's happened to me,
I can't believe it myself;
Suddenly I'm up on top of the world,
Should've been somebody else.

Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me.

Just like the light of new day,
It hit me from out of the blue;
Breakin' me out of the spell I was in,
Makin' all of my wishes come true.

Yep, this is one of those songs that it is impossible for me to be in a bad mood while I'm listening to it, even when, say, our family guinea pig is spending the night at the vet school to the tune of hundreds of dollars worth of tests to say why she's lost so much weight:

Believe it or not,
I'm walkin' on air,
I never thought I could feel so free;
Flyin' away on a wing and a pray'r,
Who could it be?
Believe it or not, it's just me...

Live Like You Were Dyin'

 A fire's not quite the same in the driveway!

Ever since my trip to Copper Harbor, I've been daydreaming about waking up in the tent with my little birds. When I saw that the weather was supposed to be beautiful this weekend, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to go camping.

I was wrong. My son didn't feel comfortable leaving our sick guinea pig at home alone, even for 24 hours. So we compromised: stay home tonight, leave in the morning for the state park where we were going to camp and at least spend the super warm October day out in nature.

My daughter and I went to the hardware store and purchased a fire pit so that she could cook her hot dogs and the kids could eat s'mores. Not having a s'more -- because it is day 19 of the Whole 30 for me -- sucked. But I managed.

My daughter and I have also spent a lot of the day -- actually a lot of the last three days -- laughing together, which has felt pretty awesome.

I've had this song in my head for DAYS, and while our adventures were curtailed this weekend, it does feel like we are embracing life the best way we know how:

He said I was in my early 40's
With a lot of life before me
And a moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days, lookin' at the x-rays
Talkin' 'bout the options and talkin' 'bout sweet time
Asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
How's it hit ya, when you get that kind of news
Man what ya do
And he says

I went sky divin'
I went rocky mountain climbin'
I went 2.7 seconds on a bull name Fumanchu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I've been denying
And he said someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin'

Like tomorrow was a gift and you've got eternity
To think about what you do with it,
What could you do with it, what can
I do with with it, what would I do with it.

Tomorrow is most definitely a gift, as was today...